Full Story - PES T28 Kit / My car
03-28-2002, 09:23 AM
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Full Story - PES T28 Kit / My car
So I will start from the very beginning so everyone has a clear understanding what has transpired and so that everyone will have the full _true_ story. Here it goes...
Once I received my kit in the mail, I proceeded to ask my mechanic (lead Audi technician at my dealer) to install the kit for me. He has installed several other of my mods and he is a well known mechanic and I knew he would be very capable of installing the kit, so I ask him when he can do it, he says 2 weeks, because he's very busy, so I say ok I'll wait, see you then. I am anxious as ever, the two weeks seems like two months. Finally I bring my car in and tell him here's the kit, show him what I want installed and tell him no rush I don't expect it to be done in a couple days (2-3 days). I was having him install everything that comes with the PES T28 Kit along with Front Mount Intercooler, Blitz Dual Turbo Timer/Boost Gauge, APR snub mount and Juan's Stage2+ clutch.
So time passes, it's been a week now and I call to check on the progress, he's still working on it... which is fine, he's very busy with dealership cars, etc etc. Couple days pass, call again... My mechanic informs me that the flywheel is shot supposedly and that the machine shop couldn't turn it. So here I have Juan's clutch and no flywheel to match it... It's been almost 2 weeks and I still have no car so I am desperate at this point, my mechanic offers to call APR up and order there clutch/flywheel package. I didn't want to go this route but I was stuck... so I said go ahead.
Well finally after a long 2 1/2 weeks he calls me up on Friday and says come pick it up, it's ready!.... I am so excited; I can't get to the dealership fast enough. Get there around 6:00pm Friday, I invited a fellow audiworlder(Josh 1.8T) I've never met to come check out my car if he wanted to, he did. Josh can vouch for the rest of the time he was around me and my car, if he would like or if anyone thinks I am not telling the truth.
My mechanic starts the car, sounds perfect... idles nicely... mechanic revs the engine, wow it's loud, I'm grinning from ear to ear. He tells me didn't get a chance to install the boost guage/turbo timer and the FMIC had the wrong size piping, so no FMIC either =(!. We go for a test drive, mechanic has previously drove the car before I arrived at the dealership and tells me the car is a new monster, he was right. After he drives a short distance I jump in the driver's seat and take off, my mechanic, josh and Keith (co-worker/friend) are along for the ride. I notice rev's climb quickly, most likely due to the lightened flywheel... it pulled like a rocket, I kept hearing a chirping sound and my mechanic pointed out that it's the tires chirping when I was shifting gears, I was in shock still and loving every minute of it! I take the car back to the dealership talk with my mechanic and fool around for a little bit, it's getting late and I wanted to go drive so off me josh and Keith go.
I ask Josh if he wants to follow me in his car and fool around a little, he agrees. Keith was in my brothers truck following us. We take off from the dealership and get maybe one mile down the rode and turn around to head back the other way. Josh and I got a red light together and I knowingly can't dump the brand new clutch so I take it very easy off the line and then get on it once the clutch was engaged. I went thru 3rd gear and switched into fourth, Josh let off around ~90mph at which point I was in front and was on the gas till about 100mph... I see a red light approaching so I hit the brakes and look in my rear view mirror to see where Josh is at, I see smoke behind me, immediately look down and see the CE light, at which point the engine died. I didn't hit any rev limiter or bounce off anything, I have done that before when my car was only chipped so I know what it feels like. Only way I could figure it over rev'd was just from switching near 6500RPM and it continued to fly past 7000 even though I was shifting, since the rev's did climb so much faster. So I pull over push the car into a hotel parking lot and call my mechanic and say we have problems. He comes back to the hotel and takes a look... I knew it wasn't good I saw my coolant completely gone and I touched the ground where some fluid was, it felt oily.. so I was like damn coolant and oil together... not good... ****. I am in shock at this point sitting on the curb, ready to cry and he looks at me at tells me "you ventilated your block man", my heart drops to my ankles.
Mechanic is coming in on Saturday (the next day) to work so he says I will get a tow truck and tow it to the dealer tomorrow morning and take a look. Mechanic looks and says he's not quite sure what happened, give him more time to diagnose what happened. Mechanic has Audi School coming up and the car has already been at the dealer for a week so I am getting impatient and have to decide what I am going to do. I don't want to wait for 2 weeks while he is at Audi School with my car just sitting there, so I talk to Tony and I decided to go all out and do a custom 2.0T. I send the car to PES so they can do the custom tuning and take the car apart.
Here is what we have found so far... The cause for the engine failure was initially unclear. It was totally possible, that any engine that was driven hard for 70K miles could be "tired" and fail once some serious power was put through it. Although there were a few installation issues (loose, hand tight bolts on oil return from turbo) we do not believe that the installation caused the failure. There was also a code for "maximum engine speed exceeded", which indicated a missed shift or over-rev of the engine.
The major thing that we immediately saw was a large rupture of a main coolant line off the water pump. The engine was completely torn down for inspection. There was no sign whatsoever of detonation on the pistons, valves, head, or plugs. There is a hairline crack in #1 cylinder wall. The #2 cylinder was the one with the broken rod. #3 & #4 pistons are seized in the cylinder walls. It appears that the main coolant line ruptured and quickly dumped all the coolant from the engine, causing it to rapidly overheat and fail. The #2 cylinder was the first to seize at the top of its stroke. When the crank pulled down on the rod, the 2 bolts which hold the rod end cap on were cleanly sheared. The broken rod/end cap bashed into the side of the bock causing the hole. Even with the #2 cylinder disconnected from the crank, the other 3 pistons are seized and the engine can't be turned. At high engine speed on the highway this type of failure will happen very quickly.
This is what we have found so far, Tony/PES has offered anyone who wants to come take a look at my engine the opportunity to do so. Neither I nor PES has anything to hide, so feel free to ask questions or call PES if you would like to directly talk to them.
So ... the fun stuff... PES is working on my car as I type this building my 2.0L T race motor. They have been extremely helpful and have taken well care of me, I can't complain. PES has showed me excellent customer service, I have talked with Tony and Jeremy countless times and each time they have been patient and answered all my questions and have even went out of there way to make me happy. Anyone doubting PES/GIAC ability will soon see my car and hopefully dyno charts along with it. I hope I didn't leave anything out... and again feel free to ask questions.
Once I received my kit in the mail, I proceeded to ask my mechanic (lead Audi technician at my dealer) to install the kit for me. He has installed several other of my mods and he is a well known mechanic and I knew he would be very capable of installing the kit, so I ask him when he can do it, he says 2 weeks, because he's very busy, so I say ok I'll wait, see you then. I am anxious as ever, the two weeks seems like two months. Finally I bring my car in and tell him here's the kit, show him what I want installed and tell him no rush I don't expect it to be done in a couple days (2-3 days). I was having him install everything that comes with the PES T28 Kit along with Front Mount Intercooler, Blitz Dual Turbo Timer/Boost Gauge, APR snub mount and Juan's Stage2+ clutch.
So time passes, it's been a week now and I call to check on the progress, he's still working on it... which is fine, he's very busy with dealership cars, etc etc. Couple days pass, call again... My mechanic informs me that the flywheel is shot supposedly and that the machine shop couldn't turn it. So here I have Juan's clutch and no flywheel to match it... It's been almost 2 weeks and I still have no car so I am desperate at this point, my mechanic offers to call APR up and order there clutch/flywheel package. I didn't want to go this route but I was stuck... so I said go ahead.
Well finally after a long 2 1/2 weeks he calls me up on Friday and says come pick it up, it's ready!.... I am so excited; I can't get to the dealership fast enough. Get there around 6:00pm Friday, I invited a fellow audiworlder(Josh 1.8T) I've never met to come check out my car if he wanted to, he did. Josh can vouch for the rest of the time he was around me and my car, if he would like or if anyone thinks I am not telling the truth.
My mechanic starts the car, sounds perfect... idles nicely... mechanic revs the engine, wow it's loud, I'm grinning from ear to ear. He tells me didn't get a chance to install the boost guage/turbo timer and the FMIC had the wrong size piping, so no FMIC either =(!. We go for a test drive, mechanic has previously drove the car before I arrived at the dealership and tells me the car is a new monster, he was right. After he drives a short distance I jump in the driver's seat and take off, my mechanic, josh and Keith (co-worker/friend) are along for the ride. I notice rev's climb quickly, most likely due to the lightened flywheel... it pulled like a rocket, I kept hearing a chirping sound and my mechanic pointed out that it's the tires chirping when I was shifting gears, I was in shock still and loving every minute of it! I take the car back to the dealership talk with my mechanic and fool around for a little bit, it's getting late and I wanted to go drive so off me josh and Keith go.
I ask Josh if he wants to follow me in his car and fool around a little, he agrees. Keith was in my brothers truck following us. We take off from the dealership and get maybe one mile down the rode and turn around to head back the other way. Josh and I got a red light together and I knowingly can't dump the brand new clutch so I take it very easy off the line and then get on it once the clutch was engaged. I went thru 3rd gear and switched into fourth, Josh let off around ~90mph at which point I was in front and was on the gas till about 100mph... I see a red light approaching so I hit the brakes and look in my rear view mirror to see where Josh is at, I see smoke behind me, immediately look down and see the CE light, at which point the engine died. I didn't hit any rev limiter or bounce off anything, I have done that before when my car was only chipped so I know what it feels like. Only way I could figure it over rev'd was just from switching near 6500RPM and it continued to fly past 7000 even though I was shifting, since the rev's did climb so much faster. So I pull over push the car into a hotel parking lot and call my mechanic and say we have problems. He comes back to the hotel and takes a look... I knew it wasn't good I saw my coolant completely gone and I touched the ground where some fluid was, it felt oily.. so I was like damn coolant and oil together... not good... ****. I am in shock at this point sitting on the curb, ready to cry and he looks at me at tells me "you ventilated your block man", my heart drops to my ankles.
Mechanic is coming in on Saturday (the next day) to work so he says I will get a tow truck and tow it to the dealer tomorrow morning and take a look. Mechanic looks and says he's not quite sure what happened, give him more time to diagnose what happened. Mechanic has Audi School coming up and the car has already been at the dealer for a week so I am getting impatient and have to decide what I am going to do. I don't want to wait for 2 weeks while he is at Audi School with my car just sitting there, so I talk to Tony and I decided to go all out and do a custom 2.0T. I send the car to PES so they can do the custom tuning and take the car apart.
Here is what we have found so far... The cause for the engine failure was initially unclear. It was totally possible, that any engine that was driven hard for 70K miles could be "tired" and fail once some serious power was put through it. Although there were a few installation issues (loose, hand tight bolts on oil return from turbo) we do not believe that the installation caused the failure. There was also a code for "maximum engine speed exceeded", which indicated a missed shift or over-rev of the engine.
The major thing that we immediately saw was a large rupture of a main coolant line off the water pump. The engine was completely torn down for inspection. There was no sign whatsoever of detonation on the pistons, valves, head, or plugs. There is a hairline crack in #1 cylinder wall. The #2 cylinder was the one with the broken rod. #3 & #4 pistons are seized in the cylinder walls. It appears that the main coolant line ruptured and quickly dumped all the coolant from the engine, causing it to rapidly overheat and fail. The #2 cylinder was the first to seize at the top of its stroke. When the crank pulled down on the rod, the 2 bolts which hold the rod end cap on were cleanly sheared. The broken rod/end cap bashed into the side of the bock causing the hole. Even with the #2 cylinder disconnected from the crank, the other 3 pistons are seized and the engine can't be turned. At high engine speed on the highway this type of failure will happen very quickly.
This is what we have found so far, Tony/PES has offered anyone who wants to come take a look at my engine the opportunity to do so. Neither I nor PES has anything to hide, so feel free to ask questions or call PES if you would like to directly talk to them.
So ... the fun stuff... PES is working on my car as I type this building my 2.0L T race motor. They have been extremely helpful and have taken well care of me, I can't complain. PES has showed me excellent customer service, I have talked with Tony and Jeremy countless times and each time they have been patient and answered all my questions and have even went out of there way to make me happy. Anyone doubting PES/GIAC ability will soon see my car and hopefully dyno charts along with it. I hope I didn't leave anything out... and again feel free to ask questions.
03-28-2002, 09:30 AM
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Sorry about what happened, but I'm glad to hear things are coming together....
...now for the big question.
When I hit 50K miles and my warranty is out and I'm ready to mod away how much will this cost me to do :-)
When I hit 50K miles and my warranty is out and I'm ready to mod away how much will this cost me to do :-)
03-28-2002, 09:35 AM
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I haven't researched it too much, but I'm thinking
Turbo, FMIC, clutch and whatever other goodies I need to make it a good/lasting job. I want a fun fast car, but it needs to be stable enough for an every-day driver as well.
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03-28-2002, 09:37 AM
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good question
I'm the farthest thing from a mechanic, but the car did have 70k miles and it could of been dryrotted or weak? I don't keep my car in a garage if that makes any difference. I wonder if coolant lines fail very often?
